


Beyblade Burst--Gravity Falls AU

by Klavvy



Category: Gravity Falls, ベイブレードバースト | Beyblade Burst (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Beyblade AU, Beyblade Burst AU, Gen, Gravity Falls AU, Gravity Falls Spoilers, crossovers yay, daina is gay for shu in this lol, i have so many plans for this, its gonna be great, no i did not switch valt for daina last minute so i could have daina x shu, shhhhhh you know nothing, this is actually really fun to write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-05
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-28 11:19:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10830207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Klavvy/pseuds/Klavvy
Summary: Daina and Kensuke Pines are sent away from home to stay with their Great Uncle Xander. Gravity Falls is a humble town in Oregon, and it seems like a nice place, so what could go wrong?Lots of things. Lots of things can go wrong.A mysterious curse is laid upon the town. An odd journal with an unknown author tells of the creatures of the town. It looks like this town isn't exactly what it seems.With help from their new friends, it's up to Daina and Kensuke to free this town from its curse.





	1. Why Did We Agree to This?

We’re going to die, is what I was thinking as we crashed down into the woods, in the dead of night, riding in a measly golf cart. How the heck had this happened, you ask? Well, let’s start from the beginning.

My name is Daina Pines. The kid next to me clinging to the door screaming his head off with puppets for hands is my brother Kensuke Pines. We came to this town for a nice summer vacation, to visit our great uncle Xander. Our parents thought it would be good for us, to get away from our dark rooms and into the sunshine of a new state.

But this town? This town is insane. There’s things you wouldn’t believe. The book I’m hanging on to while also trying to drive this thing has a full list of all of the stuff we can find in this town. Like I said. Let’s start from the beginning.

 

It was our first day in the town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Great Uncle Xander, or Grunkle Xander, clapped us on the back and told us to get settled in. Kensuke...or, well, his puppets, Ker and Beus, attempted to remain optimistic. I say Ker and Beus because Ken doesn’t talk much. He uses Ker and Beus to speak for him, which he can somehow do without moving his mouth. It’s a talent. I, on the other hand, was having a hard time adjusting to my new surroundings. Reading in the dark was my kind of thing, and when there’s a woodpecker on your head and the sun in your eyes, it’s kind of hard to do that.

Let’s talk about Grunkle Xander. Oh boy, is he a fun person to be around. Not only is he incredibly strong for an old man(he’s almost 60 but he looks 32), he makes us do the most outrageous things. Like standing on top of the roof and throwing water balloons to water the yard, with Ken and I as targets.

Okay. So maybe that was kind of fun. 

Anyway, the kids in this town seem...nice. Grunkle Xander runs an antique shop called ‘The Mystery Shack’. It’s also where we live. And, you guessed it, we have to work there. 

 

“Hey, Daina, keep frowning and your face will freeze!” Ah, why did Xander have to be so loud? “Come on, you haven’t smiled once since you’ve got here! Turn that frown upside down and go hang some signs for me.” He wants me to go out. In the woods. I swear to you I saw a huge bat with a third eye and multiple wings this morning. 

“What? Why me? Why not Shu?” 

Shu Courdoroy, a teenager two years older than Ken and I. We’re thirteen and he’s fifteen, almost sixteen. 

“Ey, Shu! Wanna come hang some signs in the woods with Daina?”

“I would…but my hands are glued to this magazine. I can’t put it down.” Shu said, overdramatically waving the book in his hands. 

“Teenagers…” Xander sighed. “Right, then, kid, looks like you’re on your own!” 

I did not want to do this. “Kensuke, please come with me.” I turned to where I thought Kensuke was. Wait, wasn’t he just standing there? 

“Psst. Over here.” I turned to see Ker poking over a display stand.

“Ken, what are you doing?” I asked, walking over and ducking down with him. 

“Look.” Beus nodded towards a girl standing on the other side of the shack. 

“Be my friend?” The girl looked incredibly confused. “Yes...definitely...absolutely?” 

“I rigged it.” Ker said, while Ken had a happy smile. Ah yes, Ken’s surefire way of making friends. The confused girl dropped the card and left the shop. Ken scowled.

“She can’t interact if she doesn’t know who you are.” I pointed out. Ken just sighed and looked away with a small blush on his face. Not to make things sad, but Kensuke and I didn’t have many friends growing up. We didn’t really know how to interact with people. And Kensuke’s shyness didn’t really help. “Anyway, please come help me hang signs?” 

“You’re on your own.” Beus said quietly. Poor kid.

“See you, then.” I sighed in defeat. Xander dumped wooden signs(splinter, ouch), a hammer, and some nails into my arms. 

“Be back soon, kid!” he called after me. Yeah. Sure. I swallowed my doubts and began to tack signs on trees. Xander had given me about ten signs to hang up. ‘Cryptids! Antiques! Come to the Mystery Shack!’ is what the signs read. Not bad advertising, if the quote on quote cryptids were actually real and not completely fake. You see, Xander has a knack for scams. His stuff was cool, yeah, but it was so fake. The people of this town didn’t seem to think so. 

_ Clank. _

I jumped back at the loud noise. What? I put the final sign, hammer, and nail down and knocked on the tree. Metal. I rubbed my hand over the side, finding a small dent. A door! Upon opening it, a cloud of dust puffed in my face. Coughing, I reached inside the tree to find a thick book. A deep red cover with a six fingered hand on the front, the number three written on the cover.

“Hey, what did you find?” 

I stumbled back at Beus’ sudden appearance, tripping over a log and landing flat on my back with the book on my stomach. Kensuke leaned over me, grinning. He seemed to be feeling better. I sat up, rubbing my head, and showed Kensuke the book.

“I didn’t know you had a diary.” Ker commented.

“It’s not mine! I just found it here!” I protested immediately. Leave it to Ken to say something like that.

“Mhmmm. So what is it?” Beus asked. 

“I don’t know. But I’m gonna read it when we get home.” 

 

And that’s how I found the journal, the thing that explained this mess of a town. What I found most interesting was that over half of the book wasn’t filled in. The person must have left town before they finished writing. 

You wouldn’t believe the stuff inside this book. Vampires. Three eyed bats. Eyeball bats. Gnomes. Unicorns. Werewolves. Gargoyles. Minotaurs. Multi headed bears. Zombies. Stuff you’d find in a fairy tale. Smack in the middle was an odd symbol, one that looked incomplete. And on another page...a scary face, with an X through the middle. Trust no one, it read. I didn’t look too long at that page. Freaky. 

“Heyyy, Daina! I made a friend!” Kensuke was speaking without his puppets this time. He usually did that when we were alone, or when he felt excited.

“You did? Kensuke, that’s awesome!” That was a huge step in the right direction for a shy person like Ken. “Can I meet them?”

“Yeah! We’re gonna hang out today, and he said he liked my puppets!” Kensuke cried. The doorbell suddenly rang. “That’s him!” Kensuke gripped my arm with Beus. Thankfully these puppets were made of felt. Ken slid to a stop at the door, and pulled it open. 

I did not like the vibe this guy gave off. He was tall, had an emo hairstyle, and wore all black. With some red stuff on his face.

“Uhh, is that blood?” I asked. Of course the first friend Ken had to make wasn’t normal. 

“...It’s jam!” The guy said.

“And your name?” 

“Uhh...normal...man!” Yeah, there was no trusting this guy.

“He means Norman.” Beus corrected. Mhm. “Wanna come with us?” I had a small sense that this guy wasn’t what he seemed. 

“Nah. Not right now. You guys can go on ahead.” 

 

Now I was upstairs, flipping through the journal in the sunroom. I knew that guy wasn’t a normal teenager. But did I really want to mess things up for Ken? This was his first friend. But my overprotective sibling feeling was kicking in. I had to find the truth about this guy. 

“I fully agree!” That was the third time I’d jumped out of my skin today. I almost forgot to mention Zac Ramirez. The Mystery Shack’s handyman, and number one decorator. It was like this guy had a ray of sunshine following him everywhere. That, or he just wore really bright clothing. And he was the only guy I knew to wear a crop top. Whatever makes him happy.

“Yes, you were monologuing out loud! And let me tell you, I know how you feel! There’s no doubt something going on in this town, I can feel it! I am positive the mailman is a werewolf.” Zac insisted. Well, anything was possible, I suppose. “But you need proof. Solid, real life evidence!”

“Zac! The light bulbs broke again!” Xander called from downstairs.

“My shining light is needed elsewhere! Remember, proof!” And with a dazzling smile, Zac left the room. I thought about his words. He was right. If I was going to prove this Norman guy wasn’t what he seemed, I had to get proof. Luckily, I brought a video camera.

For the next few hours, I stalked Kensuke and Norman all I could. But no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t find anything wrong with the guy. Frustrated, I had given up and was now leaning in a chair, checking over my footage. 

“What’s the point of all this proof if I...WHAT?!” I gasped, rewinding some of the camera. Was that what I think I saw? Yep, right there, Norman’s hand had dropped off, and he just casually picked it up and put it back on. There was no doubt about it, Kensuke had befriended a zombie. I skimmed through the journal, stopping at the page about zombies. They would be cool to know about if one wasn’t trying to tear Ken’s brains out. 

That afternoon was probably the worst thing to happen to me. 

“Daina! Norman and I are going for a walk in the woods!” Ken ran into our room.

“Uh, about Norman. Remember that journal I found?” This wouldn’t be easy. Ugh, I did not want to do this to Ken.

“Yeah…” Ken nodded slowly. 

“Well...Norman is...Norman’s a zombie!” I blurted. Kensuke looked at me, and then grinned slightly. 

“Pfft, funny, Daina.”

“No, I’m serious! I saw him-his hand-it fell off, and he put it back, and the journal says they’re disguised as teenagers, and-” Kensuke cut me off by shoving Ker in my face and an angry expression on his own.

“Look, Daina!” He was using Ker to speak now. “Norman is a good guy! We have fun together, he talks to me, he listens, and we’re going to be friends! I’m going out with him. We’re going to have a nice walk, and it won’t be ruined by your crazy paranoia!” Kensuke had backed me into our wall. Ker snapped his jaws at me, and Ken stormed out of the room, slamming the door. Ugh. What have I done?

Maybe Kensuke was right. But I knew he wasn’t. You can’t fake something like your hand falling off. Whether he liked it or not, I was going to save my brother. 

 

And so that’s how I had raced downstairs, trying to get Xander’s attention. But he was busy giving tours, and didn’t see, or hear me. Curse being short. Scanning the front yard, that’s when I saw it. The golf cart. Perfect. Shu was standing nearby.

“Shu! Kensuke’s gonna have his brains eaten by zombies and I need the golf cart to save him!” 

Shu just looked down at me, shrugged, and dropped the keys in my hand. 

“Try not to hit any pedestrians.” 

Giving a quick thanks, I started up the golf cart.

“Wait!” Zac. 

“What is it?” I asked. I didn’t have time, I had a Kensuke to save.

“Take this!” He dumped sharp shovel in the back seat. “This is for the zombies! And if you see anything sparkly, smash it for me!”

I nodded and sped off into the woods. No zombie was eating my brother, not while I was alive. The cart itself was fast, which was a good thing. I weaved out of the way of fallen trees and rocks, driving on instinct. Please don’t let anyone give me a license. Finally, I drove into a clearing. What I saw was not something I expected. Instead of a horde of zombies, there was a horde of...a horde of gnomes. Garden gnomes. The ones you put in your garden to make them look nice. Those gnomes. It took me a few seconds to get over my shock, before abandoning the cart and grabbing the shovel. Kensuke was tied up with Ker and Beus furiously biting the ropes, to no avail. Remember, they were just puppets made of felt.

I let out some sort of war cry and slashed the ropes, scattering the gnomes and freeing Kensuke. He got to his feet and dove for the golf cart, kicking the gnomes that had tried to get to it. Ken could give one hell of a kick if he wanted to. 

“Thanks, Daina. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.” Ken said quietly. 

“Thank me later. We’ve got to get out of here.” I said, and then slammed my foot on the gas, driving us out of there. What I didn’t expect was for the damn things to follow us. It was like they were forming Voltron! I pushed the gas harder, we were going as fast as we could. And then an explosion. 

Now we’re back to where we were at the start, flying through the woods in a golf cart of all things, with a screaming Kensuke and the Voltron version of gnomes chasing us. A gnome blinded my vision for a second, Ker grabbing the damn thing and throwing it out of my face. 

“WATCH OUT!” Ken suddenly shouted. We were both screaming as we flew off the hill and straight through the sign that said ‘Welcome to Gravity Falls’. I heard the gnomes yelping and screaming threats of revenge after us, before we landed harshly on the ground. My head was spinning, that really, really hurt. 

Kensuke and I were bruised, but by some miracle, nothing was broken. Ker and Beus were fine too. And we had no idea where we were. It was the dead of night, our golf cart was busted, and there was no way to find out where we landed. My bandana was gone too. Lovely, I really liked that one. 

“Wait, look.” Kensuke raised his arm. The signs! Oh thank god, the signs! I never thought I’d ever be so happy to see signs. Following those, we managed to get back home. With muddy clothes, messy hair, and leaves and twigs stuck to us, we pushed through the door of the Shack. The light of the TV was visible through the ‘Employees Only’ door. It was suddenly pushed open, revealing Xander in the dim light. 

“There you kids are! Where were you?” His loud voice made my head hurt more. 

“We were just playing out in the woods. We got a bit carried away and lost track of time, that’s all.” I quickly made a cover story. Xander shrugged and seemed to believe it. 

“Well...how about this. You get one thing from the shop, as a present, and then it’s off to bed for you. You both look like you’re about to pass out!” 

Huh. Wasn’t expecting that. Well, I did need a new bandana. And even though it was a scarf with a pine tree symbol, it still worked. Kensuke, on the other hand, seemed satisfied with a grappling hook. 

If you thought this story was crazy? Just wait until you hear about our other misadventures in Gravity Falls. 


	2. Crazy Old Men and Fishing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> None of the plot in this chapter is my original idea. I claim no rights to Gravity Falls or Beyblade Burst in any way, shape, or form.

“Hey, Daina, check this out.” Beus appeared in my face with a newspaper in his mouth. It was a few days after the incident with the golf cart. Xander had blamed its disappearance on wolves. Great, there’s another thing I have to watch out for. But it didn’t really matter as long as he never found out. Meanwhile I was tearing apart my side of our room. The journal had gone missing last night and for the life of me, I couldn’t find it. 

“Kind of busy, Ken!” I said, going under the bed for what seemed like the hundredth time. 

“Just give up on the book already.” Beus said, Ken sticking his head underneath the bed. 

“Never.” I popped up on the other side, and flopped face down on my bed. 

“You lookin for this?” Xander was in the doorway. The journal! I got up and took it from him. “Sorry, borrowed it from you for a little. Anyway, leave it here because I have something planned!”

Kensuke and I shared a look. Something planned didn’t ever go too well. Whether it was launching water balloons at teenagers(again, kind of fun) or outright vandalism, Xander’s ideas of bonding were...odd. 

“Come on, don’t look like that! I have a great idea! Now, put on some blindfolds, and get in the car!” 

Nope. Nope nope nope. Why did mom and dad think this was a good idea? 

And a few minutes later, we were in the back of Grunkle Xander’s car, blindfolded. In my case, my new bandana had just been pulled over my eyes. I hated every second of this. Every bump and sharp turn made me want to vomit. 

“Please tell me you’re not wearing a blindfold, Grunkle Xander.” I said. It sure seemed like he was. I didn’t think anyone would be a worse driver than me. 

“Nah, but with my old eyes I might as well be!” Another sharp turn. Oh god, we are going to die. Kensuke remained silent the whole ride. Thankfully we didn’t crash too badly--there was probably an innocent squirrel or two who met their doom. 

 

“Alright, take ‘em off!” We were guided out of the car by Grunkle Xander. I pushed my bandana back into place. The lake? Fishing? This was his bonding idea? I’d much rather make cult sacrifices and draw scary things.

...Kidding. I promise. 

“So we’re gonna have to miss out?” Beus commented. Ah, right, the puppets. They couldn’t exactly get wet or they’d be ruined. Looks like I’d be doing most of the talking today. Ugh. 

“No one has to miss out! Look, the whole town is here to have a good time!” Xander gestured to the lake. It seemed he was right. Everyone and their brother had come out to fish. Small world. “It’s gonna be you, me, and cheesy jokes for ten hours!” 

Ten. Hours?! There had to be some way to get out of this. Kensuke voiced my thoughts.

“There’s gotta be something else…” Just as I was about to agree…

“I SAW IT AGAIN!” 

Kensuke jumped at the loud voice and hid behind me, even though he was slightly taller. 

“THE GRAVITY FALLS GOBBLEWONKER! COME CATCH IT BEFORE IT GOBS YA!” An old man with odd blue hair was screeching. Kensuke gripped my shoulders tighter. Surprise surprise, there’s a town psycho. Remind me again why we came here? Someone came storming out of the small shack on the shore.

“That’s enough, dad!” 

“Ow, Ken, loosen your grip!” Damn, he was strong, even with those puppets on. 

“S-Sorry…” Ken slowly let go of my shoulders.

“Hey, it’s okay, look, the crazy old man is getting sprayed!” This guy’s son was actually spraying him with what looked like Windex. Again. Why did we agree to come to this town? 

“I’ve got proof this time, I swear!” 

We followed him to the edge of the docks, where a boat was floating in pieces. Yeah, because it takes a monster to do that.

“It had a long neck like a giraffe! And wrinkly skin like this guy!” He pointed to Xander, who wasn’t paying attention. 

“Pay no mind to him, everyone. Crazy old man.” People started laughing and went back to what they were doing before. 

“Well, that happened. Anyway!” Xander shrugged and hopped into a boat.

“Daina, this is what I was trying to show you! You’re into summoning the dead and cryptids!” Ken was using Ker to speak. Beus had a newspaper in his mouth, open to a certain page. A monster photo contest? The winner gets $1,000?!

“No way! We’ve got to see if that old man was right!” I gasped, rereading the page. “We win the contest and split the money! Just think of the possibilities of 1,000 dollars!” 

“But how are we gonna do that if we’re stuck in a boat for ten hours?” Ker asked. Ugh, he was right.

“Never fear, for Zac the Sunshine is here!” Is that what he’s calling himself now? “I heard something about a monster hunt, and I am 1,000 percent on board! What do you little stars say to using this beauty to do so?” Zac leaned over the edge of a rather impressive speedboat. 

“Please, you’re actually going to go with this guy rather than stay here with your old man?” Xander had overheard our conversation.

Yeah. Yeah, we were. Sorry, but not really sorry. 

And that’s how we ended up speeding down the lake to a weird island covered in fog. 

“Okay, so if we’re going to win this, we have to blow this adventure out of the water. I know exactly how to do that. The number one problem with monster hunts is-” Zac cut me off.

“You’re not the protagonist and you die! Ouch, sorry to hear that…” 

“First, we’re the protagonists, and second, wrong. Every movie has that frustrating moment where they don’t have a working camera to capture the monster’s moments! So that’s why I may have gone a bit overboard with them.” Call me what you want, but I had brought fifteen cameras with me. Prepared? Yes. Paranoid? Absolutely. 

“Ohhh, is that was these were for? I just threw two of them at a bird…I think I killed it though!” Zac showed us a dead bird in the water. Thirteen cameras. Good enough. 

“Okay, before we waste the things I bought with my money, let’s establish some roles. I’m captain, Kensuke is navigator, and Zac is pilot. Good? Good. We lure the monster in with fish food, get a good picture, and have a great adventure.” I explained. What could possibly go wrong?

Lots of things. Lots of things can go wrong. But let’s not think about those.

“I dare you to lick the food, Zac.” Ker piped up.

“Make that a double dog dare.” Beus added. Hah. 

“I can’t say no to that!” Zac took some of the food out of the barrel and didn’t just lick it, no, he ate it. A whole freaking handful. There was a few minutes of vomiting before he could actually pilot. It was still funny to watch. Minutes later, we were traversing through a narrow stream full of sharp rocks and driftwood. Kensuke kept getting distracted by seagulls, and Zac refused to take his sunglasses off so it was pretty much me just yelling at him to stop going so darn fast. He claimed the boat only went one speed, until we nearly crashed into the land. But we had arrived, and that was the good part. 

Kensuke pretty much clung to my side as we walked, clearly put off by the atmosphere of the place.

“Ouch, Ken, your nails are sharp!” I cried, Ken digging them into me as we heard a loud noise. He had left Ker and Beus on the boat so they would be safe from the monster. 

“S-Sorry…” He whispered, looking around frantically.

“You guys hear that? Maybe we should turn back, I don’t like the idea of this…” Zac said.

“No way! We came this far, so we might as well see this to the end!” There was no way I was going back now. Besides, winning this contest would be so worth it. Another loud noise came from the island. This was the place.

A large lake was what waited for us at the other side of the fog, a dark shape resting in it.

“I-Is that it?” Ken whispered.

“Let’s find out!” Zac cried, and took off running. Was he actually insane? Probably. We followed him, that probably making us equally insane, and then we saw what this shape actually was. A beaver dam. The crazy creatures saw us and retreated to their dam. 

We had made it to the heart of the island and still nothing to see. Maybe that old man was full of it after all. 

“Step back!” Zac suddenly shouted, nearly choking me as he pulled me away from the edge of the river. A dark shape flicked its tail and made ripples in the water, a low growling sound filling the area. I tried to aim my camera to get a good shot, but the darn thing wouldn’t stop moving. 

“Where are you guys going, this is our chance!” I said, watching Ken and Zac slowly back up.

“Daina, do not move.” Kensuke whispered.

“Why? I’m just going to get a clear shot and...oh.” This thing was huge. It loomed over us, its eyes glowing yellow. Then, it lunged. I’ve never run so fast in my life. First gnomes, now this? The thing could run on land too, it was tearing down trees as it chased us through the woods. Branches were scraping our legs as we fled, the contest now forgotten. By some miracle we were able to make it to the boat, Zac pretty much throwing us on it and speeding away. This thing wasn’t about to give up, oh no, it was still right on our tails. It crashed into the water, kicking up waves and nearly drowning us in water. 

“BEAVERS!” Kensuke called out, a bit too late. They’d have to start their dam over from scratch. One of the beavers attached itself to Zac’s face.

“Ow, ow, you little demon, get off of me!” He cried, stepping away from the steering wheel to get it off his face. Kensuke took to piloting, rapidly approaching a dead end. 

“What do I do?!” He yelled. I flipped through the journal, thank god it was safe. 

“The waterfall! There’s a cave behind it!” At least that’s what it said. If not we’d be fish food. 

The guy who wrote this thing knew what he was talking about. There was a large cave behind the waterfall, Zac’s boat getting stuck in the mud and us falling out of it. The entrance managed to catch the thing that was chasing us--the Gravity Falls Gobblewonker. It was too narrow for it to get through. 

“It’s stuck!” Kensuke said, putting his puppets back in place. Again, they were miraculously unharmed. Those puppets have better life insurance than I do. “That means you can take a picture!” He began using Beus to speak.

“You’re right! We could actually win this contest…” There was a reason I kept 15 cameras on me. All but one had been smashed or ruined during the chase. I managed to get a clear shot of the thrashing beast--this contest was ours. A stalactite fell onto its head due to its thrashing, making a loud clunking noise and...sparks? This thing was metal? Its eyes were flickering. A total fake. I hopped down onto its fin, knocking on its body. Yep, metal.

“What’s up with it?” Zac called.

“It’s fake! This thing is a machine!” I called back, climbing up its side. Someone had to be operating it. Ken and Zac joined me. There was a small hatch on the top of its body. Let me tell you, I did not expect to see the old man from this morning inside of a large lake monster. Correction, metal lake monster.

“You’re behind this?” I asked. He pulled himself up from the controls, a tall man with cracked glasses and a lab coat. He looked to be around Grunkle Xander’s age. “What-why?!”

“What, can’t an old man get attention anymore? When you’re old and slightly insane, no one pays any mind to you--we go to crazy lengths to spend time with our families! My own son hasn’t passed me a single glance in years.” 

Ouch, way to make us feel guilty. To be honest, we probably should--we abandoned Grunkle Xander when he just wanted to bond with us, just to go on some monster hunt that wasn’t 100% real. Kensuke and I looked at each other. It would probably be best to go back and spend the rest of the day with him. 

“Hey, I still have one camera left.” I said after a few seconds of silence.

“What are you doing with it?” Zac asked. I think he already knew. 

In the remains of Zac’s speedboat, which somehow still worked--again, another thing that had better life insurance than I did--we managed to get back to where Grunkle Xander was.

“Hey!” Beus called out. He turned his attention to us, Ker snapping a picture.

“Thought you kids were off fighting crime with Zac.” Xander said, looking a bit down. 

“Ehh, we nearly got killed by a fake monster. So why not come back and spend the rest of the day with a real monster?” I said, smirking. 

“I’ve been having a great time without you, thanks. Cracking jokes with couples, getting chased by the police...I have an ankle bracelet now.” Xander said, now looking slightly proud of that.

“So, we can’t hang out?” I asked.

“...you ever wanted to see an old man put a fish in a headlock?”

“Five bucks says you can’t do it.” I hopped into Xander’s boat.

“Five more bucks says you can’t do it with your eyes closed!” Ker added, Kensuke and Zac joining us.

“You’re on!” 

I think it was around midnight when we finally returned to the Shack, having documented Xander headlocking two fish with his eyes closed, me catching my first fish, a few group photos, getting chased by the lake police, and cracking terrible jokes for hours.

Maybe this summer wouldn’t be so bad.


	3. Pretty Sure Wax Figures Aren't Supposed to Move

“Hey boys!” Zac slid into our room that morning, sporting some sort of masquerade mask. I have learned to not question Zac’s fashion sense. He found the weirdest stuff around this house. I don’t think Xander knows everything about it, and he’s lived here for years. “Follow me, I have something I want to show you!”

Ken and I followed Zac into one of the hallways. “I was...ahem, cleaning back here, and I happened to come across quite the interesting subject. A door, here, behind the wallpaper!” There was a small opening in the wall. I pushed it open, cobwebs falling onto the floor. Inside were wax figures, statues, like the ones in a museum.

“Freaky.” Ker said, sniffing Wax Sherlock’s face. 

“Yeah...AAH!” I cried, as I bumped into something--it was a dark figure with a scary mask. I backed into Ken, who also yelped in surprise.

“Hahaha! Did I scare ya, kids?” Of course, it was just Grunkle Xander. He took off the mask and threw it to the side. “It’s only me! These old things were part of the Gravity Falls Wax Museum! It was one of the most popular attractions, until I forgot about it. I’ve got lots of these guys!” 

“These figures have nothing on us.” Ker said, eyeing Wax Sherlock suspiciously.

“Yeah, we’re the main show.” Beus added.

“Of course you are. Ah, no! Who left the blinds open? John Wilkes Booth, I’m blaming you!” Xander gave a joking glare to another figure across the room. Must have been Abraham Lincoln that melted. 

“You know, we could probably make a better one.” Beus said, poking his head over Xander’s shoulder.

“Eh? You think so?” Xander asked.

“Sure we can! These candlesticks have nothing on us!” Ker repeated. 

“Alright, if you say so. Good luck, kiddo.” Xander ruffled Ken’s hair and left the room. Ken took to gathering the melted wax and setting to work. I was planning on going upstairs and reading more of the journal. This author was really detailed. 

About an hour later I came downstairs to check Ken’s progress.

“Hey, what have you got so far?” I asked. Sketchbook pages were laid out in front of him. 

“I have this.” Ken showed me a sketch of a three headed dog. Very detailed--a robotic eye and chain collars. “It’s my favorite so far.” 

“Well, it’s great. Suggestion, something more...realistic. And less ambitious.” Not that I doubted Ken, not at all, it’s just that he’d spend hours working on this thing and freak out if one thing was out of place. Something less detailed would probably soothe his nerves. 

“Uhhh, like what?” Ken picked up another drawing from the floor. “Like a cyborg pirate?” 

“Maaaaybe not. How about a person? Like…” 

“Hey, have you guys seen that mask from this morning?” Xander came into the room and stood on top of a box. 

“I know exactly what I’m doing!” Ken cried, his face lighting up. 

“Good for you, can’t wait to see it. Now where did I put the darn thing…” Xander left the room. 

A few more hours went by before Ken was finally finished with whatever he had planned. When he called Zac and I down into the room, I honestly did not expect a wax figure of Grunkle Xander.

“I think it needs more spark.” Zac commented. “Liiiiiiike this!” For whatever reason, Zac had a small pack of glitter on hand and threw it over the figure.

“Hey, I found the mask, who wants to go sca-what the heck is that?!” Xander had arrived, the mask in his hand. “This is...awesome! We’re reopening the Wax Museum!” 

Ken never looked more proud of himself.

 

I was set to work the ticket sales with Shu. I honestly did not expect so many people to be interesting in old wax figures. 

“Can’t believe these people have nothing better to do.” I commented.

“I know, right? Xander probably bribed them or something.” Shu said.

“He bribed me.” 

“Same.”

 

“Welcome to the reopening of the Gravity Falls Wax Museum! Our newest contribution is from our own Kensuke Pines!” Xander adjusted the microphone on a podium, which Ken raised Ker and Beus over. 

“Thanks for coming out today! We put a lot of work into this little guy.” Beus began.

“We made him with our blood, sweat, tears, and other puppy fluids!” Ker added. Cue a chorus of  ‘eww’. 

“Any questions?” Beus asked.

“Naoki Minamo, local crazy man!” The guy from the Gobblewonker thing. “Are these figures real, and will I survive the wax man apocalypse?” 

“Yeah, sure ya will.” Ker said. “Next!”

“Toby Determined, Gravity Falls news. Does this really constitute as a ‘wonder of the world?’”

“Your microphone is a plastic tube.” Xander said. “Next!”

“We were promised free pizza?”

Aha, so that’s why so many people showed up. 

“Typo. Good day!” Xander and Ken ran off stage. People were not happy.

“That could have gone worse.” Beus commented.

 

Just as Ken and I were about to fall asleep for the night, we heard Xander screaming from downstairs. We ran to go check it out.

“Wax Xander! He was murdered!” 

Xander’s wax self was lying on the ground, his head gone. With Ken’s art abilities it actually looked like there was a dead body on the floor. Creepy. Xander actually called the police--Ken and I decided to play along. 

“I get up to chase the wolves off my lawn, right? And when I come back, he’s dead!” Xander cried. 

“I worked so hard on it too…” Ken added, looking very disappointed. 

“Any idea who would do it?” I asked, lightly patting Ken’s head. 

“What do you think, Sheriff Blubbs?” 

“This case is unsolvable, simple as that.” He concluded. Not even a proper investigation?

“That can’t be true! I mean, there’s gotta be motives, a sneaky witness, anything!” I said. “I can help out.” Picking apart things to their very core was something I did way too often. Probably because of paranoia.

“Aww, Mr. Dark and Mysterious thinks he can help out. Listen, kid, leave the investigation to the grown ups. It’s adorable to think you can solve a mystery!” 

I narrowed my eyes as the police left. I’d no doubt solve this case.

“Kensuke, we’re going to figure this thing out! Then we’ll see who’s adorable.”

 

The next morning we claimed the part of the living room to do our investigation. 

“Lots of people weren’t very happy at the unveiling yesterday. So anyone who showed up was a suspect.” I said.

“Does that include us? Cause we didn’t do it!” Beus said.

“Of course it wasn’t us. We had alibis--we were in our room when it happened.” I flipped open the journal. “And in this town? Pfft, anything could happen. There’s so many possibilities that I don’t know where to start.”

“Maybe with those footprints?” Ken was staring at three sets of footprints left in the carpet.

“Yeah, good catch, Ken! They’ve all got holes in them, and they lead to…” I looked behind the chair to find a sharp axe. The murder weapon. 

“Hmm...my excellent judgement says that this is an axe!” Zac declared. We had shown him what we found. Yeah, no kidding. 

“The lumberjack!” Ker cried.

“Yeah! He was furious when he didn’t get that free pizza!” I added. 

“Ohh, him? That’s Shu’s father, he hangs out at a biker club downtown.” Zac said. “Excellent deductions, by the way. Good luck with your investigation!” 

 

Xander stopped us as we were about to head into town. “Mind giving your old man some help? I’m holding a small funeral for Wax Xander.” Is it creepy that our uncle is treating his wax self like a real person? Then again, we had just fled from a large water robot and gnomes in the past week. 

“Can’t, sorry, we have a huge lead in the case.” I said. Kensuke showed him the axe. “We’re going to interrogate our suspect.”

“Sounds like something young kids shouldn’t be doing...eh, I’ll allow it. AVENGE ME!” 

 

A few minutes later we were standing inside the biker club. There was pretty much a wrestling match going on in every corner of the room. It was no place for two thirteen year old kids, but we had already come this far. 

“I’m going to go find our suspect. You act normal.” I said to Ken, who nodded and stayed hidden in a darker part of the room. He was clearly intimidated by all the action. Sorry Ken, but we have a mystery to solve. Shu’s dad was in the back arm wrestling one of those manly tester machines. I had no idea how these guys were related, Shu looked nothing like his dad. Must be more like his mom, then. 

“Excuse me, sir?” I got his attention. “Where were you last night and what were you doing?” 

“Punchin that clock!” 

“What?”

He pointed to a destroyed clock on the side of the street. 10 PM. The time of the murder. 

“So you’ve never seen this?” I showed him the axe. 

“Never! I’d never use a left handed axe!” Aha! So the culprit was left handed. I grabbed Ken from his hiding spot and quickly left the club. We had a whole new lead. Find the left handed suspect, find our murderer. Simple.

It took us about an hour to walk around town, testing to see if our suspects were left handed or not. For the most part it seemed like everyone in Gravity Falls was right handed, until one person was left on the list. Toby Determined, the Gravity Falls gossiper.

That night we arrived at his office, ready for an arrest. Well, maybe not an arrest, because it was a wax figure, but a satisfying end to this case. The police had come with us, and we busted down the door.

“Hands up! This is a raid!” 

“What is this, some kind of raid?” Toby hid under his chair. Did he not just hear what we said?

“Toby Determined, you are guilty of the murder of Wax Xander!” I shouted.

“You have the right to remain silent!” Ker added.

“But I don’t understand!”

“Then let me explain.” I smirked. This felt so awesome. “You were hoping Xander’s wax museum could beat out the competition for the newspaper. But when it turned out to be a flop, you created your own story. A story that took the life of a beloved wax figure. Unfortunately for you, that backfires here and now. You’ve been caught left handed!” 

“But I had nothing to do with the murder!” What?! No! He had to be, he was the only one left! 

“Then where were you the night of the break in?” Sheriff Blubbs asked.

Toby showed us security camera footage of him...making out with a cardboard cutout of a female news reporter. Gross. But the time stamp confirmed it. We were wrong. I felt this whole case come crashing down inside my head. How did I mess up this badly?

 

By the time we got home, Xander had prepared his little memorial service for his wax self. 

“Kids. Zac. Lifeless wax figures. Some may say it’s wrong for a man to love his wax persona.”

“They’re wrong!” Zac cried, jumping from his seat. Either he was a good actor or he actually felt sad over this.

“Wax Xander, I hope you’re throwing things at teenagers in wax heaven. I-I’m sorry, I have glitter in my eye!” Xander fled the room, Zac following close behind. It was just me and Ken. 

“I still can’t believe I messed up like that.” I sighed.

“Daina, it’s okay. You were awesome, even if you were wrong. But we still have to solve this case!” Ken said. We got up to look at the coffin.

“But I considered everything! I pulled apart every last clue...hey, Wax Xander has a hole in his shoe.”

“They all do.” Ken said. “It’s where they’re attached to their stands.” 

Oh my god. There was no way what I was thinking was true. 

“Ken...I think that the murderer is-”

“Standing right behind you!” 

No way. Nuh uh. Not a chance. Was this town really that crazy to have real, live wax figures?

“Wax Sherlock Holmes...Wax Shakespeare...Wax Julio?” I gasped, watching as the wax figures came to life. Ken dropped the axe and hid behind me.

“Congratulations, my two ameture detectives. You’ve uncovered the truth. But sadly, this is where we bury you.” 

Escaping death three times in one week was definitely not one of my summer goals. Now we were being surrounded by wax figures. Ken had his eyes closed, and I could feel him lightly shaking in fear as he clung to my shoulders. 

“Well done, Daina Pines, you’ve figured out our little secret.” Wax Sherlock towered over us. “Everyone clap, clap sarcastically! No, that’s too sincere, slower. Yes, perfect.” 

“But I don’t understand, how is this possible, you’re, you’re wax!” I cried. 

“We’re cursed!” Sherlock cried. “Cursed to come to life every waxing moon…” So, like werewolves. But wax. Wax werewolves. “Your uncle bought us at a garage sale many years ago. During the day, we were the playthings of many tourists. But at night, we partied like there was no tomorrow! And then we were forgotten. We’ve waited ten years for our revenge! But we got the wrong guy.” 

“So you were trying to murder Grunkle Xander?” I gasped. If Ken hadn’t made that wax figure…

“And now, we have to murder you.” What?! 

“W-What do we do?!” Ken cried. We were being backed into a corner.

“I...I...wait!” I grabbed the pot of coffee that had been set out on the nearby table, and threw it at the figures. They cowered in fear as one of them was melted.

“We can melt them!” I grabbed one of the candles off of the table. Kensuke grabbed the other. 

“You think you can beat us?” Sherlock sneered. Well, not really, but it was worth a shot. Armed with candles, we beat our way through the crowd of wax figures. Ken’s agility really helped with getting them into groups for crowd control. I managed to melt one in half, and knock the head off of Wax Larry King. Cool. 

“DAINA!” Ken cried. I ducked just in time to avoid getting decapitated by Sherlock. “Catch!” He threw me one of those marshmallow fork things, which I began using as my own sword. I fought my way upstairs, Wax Sherlock on my tail. 

“Once your family is out of the way, we’ll rule the night like the kings we are!” Sherlock brought his sword down, only to miss me as I darted for the window. I took our fight to the rooftop. “You think you can outwit me? I’m Sherlock bloody Holmes!” He slammed his sword down on the sign to the shack, sending the ‘S’ in ‘Shack’ plummeting to the ground. I used that time to escape and hide behind the chimney. I suddenly got the wind knocked out of me, being kicked in the stomach and landing harshly on one of the roof ledges. “Any last words?” Sherlock hissed, his sword raised.

“Watch out for sunburn.”

“What? No!” The sun was rising, Sherlock beginning to melt. 

“Letting me lead you outside wasn’t very smart, was it?” 

“Outsmarted by a kid with a stupid bandana! Humiliating!” Stupid? Rude. 

“Yeah, yeah, I don’t need a lecture on fashion sense.” With that said, I kicked the remains of his head off the roof. It splattered on the ground behind the shack.

I headed back inside, where Ken was throwing the last of the figures in the fire.

“Daina, you’re alive!” Ken smiled. “And you solved the mystery!” 

“Yeah, guess I was right after all.” 

Xander entered the room at that point, and gasped when he saw the mess. “What were you two up to in here?” 

“Your wax figures were evil, so we fought them to the death.” Ken said. 

“I decapitated Larry King.” I added.

“Haha, kids and their crazy stories these days.” Xander laughed. 

“And we found your head.” 

“Heyyyy, well done! Who’s ready for an affectionate hug?” Is there another alternative? Apparently not, as Ken and I were trapped in a bone crushing hug. Case closed.


	4. Friendship is Hard

“Hey look, it’s that commercial I was telling you guys about!”   
Zac, Kensuke, and I were in the living room while Xander was finishing up tours for the day. The show we were watching cut to commercial. Zac had mentioned something about a creepy commercial earlier today. The thing on screen showed an ominous silhouette of an old house, and the fog was blown away by a blue flame.  
“Do you want to experience scares?” The voice hissed. “Do you want to leave with a thrill of adventure? Come on down to the Longinus Mansion, where you won’t leave the same as when you came in.” Thunder crackled and lightning struck, and two more silhouettes appeared in the windows, them being revealed as a boy our age with flaming blue hair and what looked to be his dad. “Longinus Mansion will surely give you a fright…”   
“Woah. That’s something I want to see.” Creepy stuff like that was right up my alley.   
“Makes sense, knowing who you are.” Beus said. Thanks, Ken.   
“Well, no matter how creepy Daina is, none of you are going to that mansion, or getting near its owner.” Xander had finished with tours for the day. “Ever since that guy Lui came into town, nothing’s been the same. He’s downright sadistic.” Pssh, yeah right. And I thought I was the paranoid one.   
“Well, is his mansion really that scary?” I asked. “I want to find out.”  
“No one of the Pines family will ever take you to see that mansion!” Xander insisted.   
“Zac’s not part of the Pines family.” I said.  
“There’s a loophole!” Ker added. 

That night, with much reluctance from Xander, Zac drove us to the Longinus Mansion, or whatever it was called. I think Xander was too proud of our sneaky loophole to say no. He pulls that stuff all the time. He was seriously warning us about the mansion’s owner, Lui Shirasagijo. How bad could the kid be? The place was freaking cool, aside from that. And it attracted a lot of people. The entrance hallway had ripped curtains covering pictures and cobwebs lining the ceiling. The only thing lighting the room was candles giving off a green light.  
“This is way too dark. I don’t like it.” Zac said.  
“Are you kidding? This is awesome!” I was already loving the dark and creepy atmosphere. Kensuke stuck close to me, looking around. Even he was impressed.   
“You know, it’s rumored that Lui has psychic abilities.” Psychic abilities? Was that even possible?  
Smoke machines suddenly activated, making everyone who was whispering fall silent. The doors to the main room opened, and special lighting effects made it look as if lighting cracked inside. The figures from the commercial appeared--Lui and his father. It was starting.  
“Welcome to the Longinus Mansion. I can’t tell if you’re brave…” The two began to walk, the crowd parting as they did so. “Curious…” Lui was speaking, his eyes surveying the crowd. Zac, Ken and I were at the end when he stopped. He locked eyes with all three of us before continuing. “Or downright foolish to enter this mansion at this time of night.” The two turned around and walked slowly to the other side of the hallway. “Either way...Longinus Mansion is accepting guests. You will follow me as we give you a tour of this mansion. This is your last chance to back out…”   
None of the crowd left.  
“Enter.”

“This mansion has stood for 45 years. All of its secrets are still undiscovered. Perhaps we will find some tonight…” Lui spoke in an emotionless tone, candles igniting as we walked. The living room contained an old, worn couch and pictures of previous masters and mistresses. The doors suddenly swung shut--Lui and his father were nowhere to be seen. More lightning crackled, and the pictures changed suddenly to be quite creepy. The crowd gasped. This place was for real. Some people screamed as a shape flew up from the fireplace, and then the doors opened again. 

Lui and his father were in the doorway, and as if that hadn’t happened, the tour continued. A lot of the rooms were like the first. Some portraits were actors, singing songs of despair. Others turned out to be acting as dead people in the rooms. I loved every second of it. How could Xander possibly dislike this guy? His mansion was so cool. The tour ended with us back in the main entrance.   
“Good job on making it through Longinus Mansion.” The crowd parted as Lui and his dad walked. “It was a lovely night having guests. Perhaps you will come back…” Lui locked eyes with me again. “Very soon…”

The next morning, I was watching Kensuke play with Zac’s glitter glue gun when the doorbell rang.   
“Can one of you kids answer that?” Xander called from upstairs.  
“I’ve got it!” I called back. I stepped over Ken’s drawings to answer the door. The guy who was standing there was...Lui. From last night. “Oh, uh, hey. You’re Lui Shirasagjio, right?”   
“And you’re Daina Pines.” Oh. Okay. Ken and Zac had called me by name a few times last night, but I didn’t expect him to remember my name. “Last night, when you visited my mansion...I realized we may have something in common. You have appreciation for things that are dark, creepy...don’t you, Daina?” He stared at me, his gaze unwavering.  
“Yeah, I guess so.” Where was he going with this?  
“Daina, who’s at the door?” Xander called.  
“No one important!” I called back.   
“...Xander’s not a very big fan of mine…” Lui continued. “I believe that we could find much more in common with ourselves if we get away from this place...perhaps a daylight walkthrough of Longinus Mansion?” He had a weird grin on his face.   
You know what? Why the heck not.   
“Fine with me.”

About an hour and a half later, Lui and I had circled the Longinus Mansion. He showed me its ins and outs, and how all of the special effects worked. It. Was. Awesome. Lui was a interesting guy. He had a weird sense of humor and was kind of cold, but he understood my love for the supernatural.   
“Where’ve you been all day?” Kensuke asked.  
“With Lui, the guy from last night. He’s actually pretty cool.” I answered.   
“Daina, that guy is creepy. I don’t really trust him.”   
“Kensuke, I know you mean well, but Lui’s really the only one who...you know, gets it. He’s into cryptids and myths, and horror mysteries, just like I am! I’ve never really had anyone who’s like that before. I know you try to understand, but I also know that stuff freaks you out. I don’t understand Xander’s problem. Lui isn’t that bad.” I explained.  
“I mean...if you’re happy, I’m happy.” Ken shrugged. 

I started hanging out with Lui a lot more often. His actions took a bit to get used to, but the stuff he showed me was just so cool. And he was an okay guy.  
“You’re not so bad.” He spoke, we were sitting up on a hill overlooking the graveyard.   
“Ha, thanks I guess.”   
“Seriously. Not many other people are smart or strong enough to understand what I’ve showed you.” Lui was staring at me again.   
“I mean...I guess it’s kind of my thing.”   
“You’re different, Daina Pines. I’d like to hang out like this more often.” The way he worded that kind of freaked me out.   
“Uhhh…”  
“How about I show you more things about this town? You could show me more of your ideas. Your theories.” Lui continued. It was getting harder to keep his gaze.   
“I...I don’t know. Maybe we should stay inside the town. There can’t be stuff that interesting outside, right?” I laughed nervously.   
“You have no idea. I’ll show you. One time. Will you come with me, Daina?” Lui kept his intense stare. As much as I wanted to decline, I found myself saying yes.   
“Great. See you tomorrow…” 

“I mean, it’s not like we’re going far.” I was telling Kensuke about what I had gotten myself into while we were playing video games. “And I really couldn’t say no! He’s shown me so much cool stuff, I can do this in return.”   
“Daina, are you really sure about this? It sounds like he’s really trying to get super close to you. You could say stuff you’d regret later on.” Kensuke said, mashing the buttons on his controller.   
“Tch, yeah right. I’m not that easily manipulated.”   
“Mhm.” Kensuke blasted my character just as the doorbell rang. Here we go. 

“Daina...this was a very nice time.” We were walking back from the outskirts of town. There were huge valleys leading to a giant coastline. Lui had spoken of alien life being active at some point. “I’m sure tomorrow’s time will be just as great…” Woah, woah woah woah.  
“You only said we’d do this once.” I came to a stop.   
“I did say that...but if you could make an exception...it would be great.” Lui had that creepy smile again.   
“I...I don’t really know…” Was Kensuke right about Lui?  
“Please consider it. I can wait for an answer.” He was staring at me again. I bit my lip.  
“I’ll get back to you later.” 

“Hey Daina, how’d it go?” Kensuke asked. I picked up the journal from the table, and didn’t answer. “Well...you don’t have to do it again, right? This was it...right?”   
“I don’t know!” I cried. “He asked if I wanted to see more, and I said I’d think about it, but I don’t know how to tell him I don’t want to!”   
“Like this--I don’t want to.” Thanks for being smart, Ken.  
“If only it was that simple. Look, I really do like hanging out with Lui. But I don’t want to keep things going this far!”

The next night, Naoki was guiding us through a marshland. He kept muttering things to himself, but Naoki was mostly ignored.  
“I didn’t think we’d be going this far.” I said, laughing nervously.   
“Don’t tell me you want to back out.” Lui glanced at me.   
“I didn’t say that! I just...thought it would be the woods again.”  
“Where’s the fun in that?” Lui asked. “Wouldn’t you want to see something else?” Just...the way he looked at me...I couldn’t say no.

“What am I doing? I could have declined, but then that could have ruined us, and I want to know more about this town, but I can’t keep saying yes…” My ranting was cut off my Ker covering my mouth.  
“What happened?” Ken asked.   
“He asked me to see more! I just couldn’t turn it down!”   
“Calm down, it’s not like you have to work with him or something.” Well, that was true. And Xander hadn’t known anything about this either...or so I thought. Xander came into the living room at that point.  
“Daina, you have to stop interacting with him!” The seriousness of his loud tone actually scared me a little. “It’s great you’re making friends, but it can’t be with Lui! You have to cancel whatever plans and cut ties!”   
“I can’t! I’ve tried so hard but I can’t!” I snapped. I just wanted to talk about anything but Lui. I pushed past Xander and rushed upstairs. Ken came up a few moments later.  
“Look, Daina...if you can’t tell him yourself...I could do it for you.”   
“What? You would do that for me? Really?” There’s a reason why Kensuke is actually the best brother ever.  
“Mhm. Just tell me where you’re meeting next.” 

The next night I waited outside where I was supposed to meet Lui. Kensuke had gone in to tell him that I just couldn’t hang out like this anymore. It only took about two minutes.  
“What did he say? How’d he take it?” I asked, nervous.  
“He took it fine. No hard feelings.” Ken answered, which calmed me down immediately. Thank god that was over.  
“Ken, you’re the best. I can’t thank you enough for this.” I tackled Ken in a tight hug.  
“N-No problem!” 

“Alright, spin me!”   
The next day we were outside, doing silly stuff with Zac. I was just so happy that things had gone back to normal. The phone rang from inside.  
“Not it.”   
“Not i-aww…” Ken went inside to answer the phone.

That evening, Ken had gone out to some place. Someone had offered him a spot in a puppet show. For some reason I still felt guilty about making Ken break things off with Lui. I needed some closure. I yelled to Xander that I was going to watch Ken’s show, when in reality I was going to find Lui. Something told me he’d be at the place where he first asked me to hang out.   
I don’t think I’d ever be more unprepared for what I saw. Ken was suspended in mid air, hiding his tear stained face with Ker and Beus, scissors aimed right at his neck. And Lui was behind it all.  
“Daina is going to tell me secrets about this town. He’s going to help me figure this out. And I can’t have a weakling like you in the way.”  
“What are you doing?!” I yelled, startling them both. I felt really hurt--Lui was just using me to uncover Gravity Falls?   
“Daina!” Lui turned around, surprised. The sharp scissors clattered to the ground.   
“It’s over, Lui! I should have just said so myself! We can’t hang out anymore!” I stormed over to him.   
“Daina, I-” He let go of the pendant around his neck, which dropped Ken on the ground.  
“Save it!” I snapped, and pulled off the source of his power.  
“Give that back, Daina Pines.” He stared at me with that cold look.  
“Never! You used it to abuse my trust! You used it to hurt my brother!” Lui lunged for the pendant, and I tossed it to Ken. Ker caught it in his mouth. Lui spun around and tackled Ken, both of them flying off the edge of the nearby cliff. The pendant came flying back to me.  
“KEN!” I shouted, and I picked up the pendant from the ground, running to the cliffside. They were plummeting to the ground fast. Lui used it by gripping it tight...so I did the same. I suspended myself, Lui, and Ken in the air, and floated down to the ground.   
“Look, Lui. We’re done. I’m never hanging out with you again.” With that said, I smashed the pendant on a nearby rock.  
“My powers!” Lui cried. He glared at us both. “You don’t know what you’ve done. This isn’t over. We’ll see each other again.” He had disappeared into the night.  
Ken grabbed me into a tight hug, sniffing.   
“It’s fine, Ken, you did it--he’s gone now. We don’t have to see him again.” I said. What Lui had said when I first found them was what really got me thinking--how was I going to help him uncover the secrets of the town? That thought was pushed away by the heavy feelings I now felt. The only friend that really, truly understood turned out to be a manipulative monster. And that really, really, hurt.


	5. Something's up in This Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which we actually start diving into the plot for this au

“So how long has Daina been locked in your room?” 

I could hear Kensuke and Shu whispering outside. And yes, I was that hurt. I never had real friends who took me seriously before Lui. I also almost got Ken killed. You can probably tell why I wasn't feeling the best emotionally. 

“Two days. He barely comes downstairs anymore.” Beus answered. 

“Well, I'm gonna fix that. It's no fun without that paranoid kid talking about sounds he heard in the woods. Go talk to him and tell him to meet me downstairs.” Shu said. 

 

Ken convinced me to come outside, saying Shu wanted to show me something. 

“Your uncle is out for the day, and I thought I'd cheer you up with something cool. Look at this.” Shu pushed an empty stand to the side, revealing a ladder to the roof. “I hang out up there all the time. Let's go. Roof time!”

Shu and Ken chanted ‘roof time’ as we climbed. Shu had set up a cooler and a chair up on one of the ledges. 

“I may come up here during work. Every day. All the time.” He said. “I throw stuff off the roof every day. It's great.” Shu picked up a pinecone from a bucket and launched it at the totem pole, hitting it square in the face. 

“Yes!”

“I wanna try.” Ken barely missed the totem pole. I stood and watched--I just didn't feel like it. 

“Your turn, Daina.” Shu shoved a pinecone in my hand. 

“I don’t-”

“You're going to!”

With a reluctant sigh, I threw the pinecone, and without even trying, hit the top of a car and set off the alarm. 

“Nice shot!” Shu held up his hand. “High five me man, don't leave me hanging.”

Was it just me or did Shu actually look really, really good today? I felt a smile working its way onto my face, and I lightly hit his hand. 

“Shu!”

A new van had drove into view. Someone was waving from inside. 

“Hey, it's my friends!” Shu grinned. “Hey Quon! I'll be right down. Tell Xander I was feeling sick, okay?” Ken and I nodded, and Shu climbed down from the roof. 

“Daina, you're blushing.” Ken said. 

“What?! I am not!” Yeah. I was. I felt my face heating up. 

“Oooh, Daina, do you like Shu?” Ken smirked. 

“I do not! Not in that sense anyway! He's just…really cool, that's all.” That's all. That was it, right? I couldn't actually feel like that about Shu. 

Right? 

 

“Dance party for no reason!” Beus shouted. It was the next day. I was starting to feel better, like I was starting to get over the whole Lui thing. And Ken was starting to get over his shyness, by doing small things like this. 

“Daina, get in on this.” Shu said, offering his arm. 

“No. I'm not much of a dancer.” I shook my head. 

The cuckoo clock in the background went off, which meant the end of Shu’s shift. 

“Hey, I'm done for the day. Are you guys still up for hanging out with me and my friends today?” Earlier this morning, Shu had invited us to hang out with his friends. He said they were fine with it. 

“Of course we are!” Ker answered, before I could speak. 

“Sweet. I've told them about you guys. They're gonna like you. And they're not too much older--you guys are 13, right?”

We nodded. 

“Cool. Quon just turned 14, so it's all good. Come on!” Shu led us outside and to the van that had picked him up yesterday. “Hey guys!”

Two other boys were waiting outside the van. They were both blonde, one having a mohawk and the other having black highlights. 

“Hey, Shu. These are your friends you told us about?” 

“Yeah. Ken, Daina, this is Quon.” The kid with black highlights waved. He had a skateboard tucked under his arm. 

“And he's Yugo. Yugo, come say hi.” 

Yugo was the oldest, and he didn't seem too impressed by Shu’s choice in friends. “So where are we going?”

“I found a new trail in the woods. That's where we're going.” Quon said. 

“Sounds good. Let's go!” Shu pushed past Quon to ride shotgun. Yugo was the only one old enough to drive, and once we were settled in, we sped off towards the woods. 

 

We arrived there at sundown, hopping over the gate that restricted the path past dusk. No one was there to see us. Quon threw his skateboard to the ground and hopped on it, speeding ahead of us. 

“Don't go too far, Quon! Not all of us can ride!” Yugo called after him. 

“I'll wait!” Quon called back. 

“You know, rumor has it that these woods are haunted at night.” I said, walking beside Shu. 

“Really? Maybe we could find that out. You guys up for a ghost hunt?”

“Ghosts aren't real. Don't be so quick to believe things a kid says.” Yugo said, dismissing the thought. 

“Don't be mean, Yugo, he might be onto something. This town is weird.” Quon had walked back to meet with us.

The woods around us thickened, a roof of trees and brambles covering most of the remaining sunlight. 

“This is freaky.” Beus said.

“Freaking awesome.” Quon and I said, simultaneously. 

“How far are we going this time?” Shu asked. 

“We'll see how far we get. We'll leave at 1:30 AM. It's 10:00 right now.” Yugo showed us the time on his phone. 

“There's roots all over the place. I'm going to jump them all.” Quon threw his skateboard down again. 

“Yeah! Go Quon!” Shu cheered. It was like Quon spent his whole life skateboarding. He was an expert--making simple jumps at first, and then making more complex maneuvers as the roots thickened. 

“Careful around the sticker bushes!” Shu called. Quon responded with a thumbs up and stopped just before he crashed into them. 

“This night is gonna be awesome, I can feel it. When we get to the end of this trail, we do whatever we want.” 

About half an hour later, the covered pathway opened into a large clearing. Yugo and Quon set up some blankets on the ground and marked a tree with a sharpie. 

“This is just us saying we've been there first.” Yugo smirked. We took turns signing our names on the the tree. 

“So now what?” I asked. 

“Like I said. We do what we want.” 

 

More time passed, and that's when the creepy stuff started to happen. The night had begun with Quon and Yugo doing stupid stunts, seeing how high we could climb trees before we got scared, which Ken made it the highest, and then just pointing out shapes we saw in the shadows and making up things for them. It was actually the most fun I'd had in awhile. For once I wasn't worried about escaping death. 

That is, until the weird stuff started happening. There was a soft breeze rustling the leaves. Everything seemed mostly quiet. The moon poked through the canopy of branches. 

Something growled from within the trees. 

“Did you guys hear that?” I asked. 

“Hear what?” Shu looked confused. 

“I didn't hear anything.” Ker said. 

“Yeah, what was it?” Quon asked. 

“It was like a growling noise, like a bear, or a wolf…” 

“It's probably nothing. You're just trying to make us believe this place is haunted.” Yugo said. 

“I'm not!” I insisted, but it was weird…no one else had heard that noise? 

A few more minutes passed. Another growl, louder this time.

“...I think something’s out there.” It was Quon who said something this time. 

“Yeah, I heard it too.” I said. “Maybe we should head back.”

“No way, it's only 11:15. We've still got a good two hours left.” Shu said. “Calm down guys, it's probably just a wolf.”

The moon illuminated our small camp. It was almost blinding, like the sun was right in my eyes. When the moon passed behind a cloud, someone was missing. 

Quon had disappeared. 

“Guys…where's Quon?” Yugo asked. 

We all stood up. 

“Quon, you can come out now!” Shu called. 

“Not cool, man!” Ker said. 

“This isn't funny!” I added. What, was Quon just pulling a mean joke on us? 

No. No he was not. The leaves rustled. The wind picked up in speed and intensity. A low, growling noise reverberated throughout the clearing. A winged serpent burst through the trees, screeching. We all screamed and booked it for the trail. The serpent hissed and followed us, breaking twigs and leaves as it did so. We stumbled over roots and rocks, while the serpent glided easily. “Wait! What about Quon?!” Shu cried. 

“Shoot! We have to find him!” I gasped. 

“Yeah, but what about the big serpent chasing us?” Ker asked. The same moonlight blinded the trail again, and this time, the serpent and Yugo were gone. 

“Yugo?! Yugo, where are you? Whatever you and Quon are doing, it isn't funny!” Shu yelled out. 

The moonlight faded. The leaves rustled again. Two monsters burst from the trees, the same winged serpent and a large dinosaur-like creature. 

Something told me these weren't just regular Gravity Falls monsters. 

“Shu, I think--”

“Not now, Daina, we have to run!” 

“But I-”

“RUN!” Ken grabbed my arm and pulled me in the opposite direction, back towards the clearing. The monsters wrecked the path behind us. Somehow, I just knew that these monsters…

These monsters were Quon and Yugo. 

We were soon cornered in the clearing, with nowhere to go. This really wasn't the end, was it? Oh god I hope it wasn't. The monsters were closing in, about to strike… 

And then they screeched in pain. The moonlight illuminated a figure in the background, armed with some sort of gun. 

“Back off, you crazy beasts!”

That almost sounded like Naoki…

The figure shot at them again, and they both hissed. He kept shooting and shooting, until both monsters crashed to the ground, unconscious. The figure walked into the light. Just as I thought, it was Naoki. The old crazy guy from town? He certainly didn't look like his normal self, actually wearing a clean lab coat and having his hair semi-tamed. 

“That's the end of that. And now I can't let you remember anything you just saw.” 

“Wait, what?!” I was too shocked to move. Naoki raised the gun he had used to shoot the monsters, and as the moon poked out from the trees, I felt something stick into my arm. I didn't remember much after that. 

The only thing I did remember was waking up in my bed, the sun in my eyes, and a sore feeling in my arm. 

 

Hours in the past, but not many… 

 

Someone pounded on the door of the Mystery Shack. Xander was dozing off in his chair, his eyes snapping open. The knocking got fiercer. 

“Calm down, I'm coming. Don't break your hand, or my door.” Xander pushed open the door, and his eyes widened from what he saw. 

Daina and Kensuke, being carried by Naoki Minamo. 

“What happened? What'd you do?” Xander asked, moving out of the way so Naoki could come inside. 

“It's one of those nights.” Xander instantly understood. “I followed them into the woods. They were with their friend, Shu, and his friends, Yugo and Quon. Quon and Yugo are like you, Xander. They're cursed too.” Naoki explained. 

“And they were attacked by whatever Quon and Yugo became, right?” Xander asked. Naoki nodded. 

“I tranquilized them and wiped their memories of the night. They won't remember a thing about Quon or Yugo. Shu won't either. They'll wake up as if it was just a fuzzy dream.”

“...why don't you stay for awhile. I'll take them up to their room. We have a lot to catch up on.” Xander offered. 

“I'll take you up on that.”


	6. A Conversation Unheard

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the conversation Xander and Naoki had after the events of Chapter 5

With Daina and Kensuke set to sleep off the events of the night, Xander took a seat in the living room with an old friend--Naoki Minamo, one of Gravity Falls’ best scientists. 

“So, let me ask you a question first. Why'd you follow the kids tonight?” 

“I was driving home from experimenting in the woods, when I heard the screeching of that monster and the voices of others. I didn't anticipate that it would be your kids.” Naoki explained. 

“And how'd you know Quon and Yugo were cursed?” 

“Just as I wiped the memories of Shu, Daina, and Kensuke, the moon was hidden behind a cloud. Quon and Yugo took the place of the unconscious monsters. That's how I know.” 

Xander frowned at the new information. He knew why Ken, Shu, and Daina’s memories were erased. They didn't need to be afraid of their new friends, or know about the curse. 

“Let's move on. Naoki, how have you been doing?” Xander changed the subject. 

“Xhaka…I've been better. Ah, sorry. I'm supposed to call you Xander, aren't I?”

“Haha!” Xander laughed. “Xhaka…now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time.”

“Hah. That joke is old, you know.”

“I know, I know. But tell me, what's been going on?”

Naoki sighed. “Well, no one comes near me during work. The ‘crazy old man’ act works quite well. Too well. My son hasn't spoken to me in years. I miss my son, but we never did get along. Most of all, I miss him.”

Xander had been waiting for him to be mentioned. 

“I know. But we'll free him. I'm so close to finishing. It's gonna be okay, Naoki.” 

“I know, I know.” The blue haired scientist sighed and glanced at the clock. “I should get going. Nice talk, Xhaka.” 

“One more thing, Naoki.”

“I'm listening.”

“Thanks for saving the kids.”

Naoki smiled and gave a small wave. 


End file.
